Stella by Harmony Parlor Guitar - Does anyone else here have one?

LesbianWithAGun

I just bought a 1951 Stella by Harmony on Reverb, it's coming from New York City; It's a 1950's but it's an early 1950's, and hasn't got a steel reinforced neck.


(What is that, is that an NFL sticker)?..




Is on its way.

By coincidence in Croydon I got a 1950's Catania Carmelo today (like an Italian parlor guitar I've never heard of before that seems rare).
I might keep it, but, since I feel like I got a good deal on that one, my instinct/reaction was to list it as soon as I found out, but I may decide it's not for sale, depending how it feels next to this Harmony I've been jonesing for.

LesbianWithAGun

Has anybody on here played one of these before?


This video sounds good...

LesbianWithAGun

LesbianWithAGun

It's harder to find examples of the one I got without a truss rod/steel reinforced neck as it's called, but every video I have shared, is one I found of the one that's coming.

LesbianWithAGun

My heart sank a little when I found out they're cheap guitars, my heart grew a little when I found out they were rare, my heart sank a little when I found out that mine wasn't... My heart grew a little at the sound, the tone and the even its twang, my heart sank a little when I summed that the p+p is going to eat up what profit if any I could maybe make from this guitar, my heart grew when I remembered its excellent condition...

Playing on my Gibson R7 Les Paul after a night with a Catania Carmelo 'Italian parlor guitar/seems rare' that I acquired yesterday and coming back to my everyday player like Buckethead aside; I recommend these parlor guitars (like the others who also say this) for noodling and song writing...
I mean, I had to very quickly slow my self down  because I'm not trying to be Herman Li  here, which was fun going up and down my R7 bending away, and after a night with a parlor guitar on your very nice everyday player - when you slow yourself down, it's like 'in tune with the bend - It's like one with Hendrix j/k but the slow blues bends are there in your playing and, I find way more control; like my body had a tune up with the ins and outs of guitar/sound/and tone...

A book I have, love, read, and have read it 10 years ago... (So for me this is old knowledge)... but 

Zen Guitar, a very wise book by Philip Tosho ISBN: 9781508246084 originally published in 1997 says:
'There are many ways to play a single note.'

I am reminded of that this morning.  

LesbianWithAGun

Yay!..

I just got off the phone with Vintage & Rare of Bath (who have the only other Harmony parlor not in private hands that I can find in the UK) who quite honestly told me when comparing what I've got coming to a Martin...
They said... Yes... It is a cheap guitar (my Stella by Harmony that's coming) compared to a Martin...
But it's all about what tone do you want? and that even though it's cheap, it's got that 'twang' as I call it/that tone, then the guy there named a bunch of blues guitarists who's worked with them, and this lifts my spirits tremendously after finding out last night from YouTube that they're cheap guitars.

LesbianWithAGun

I just found and saw this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_(guitar)
I was pleased to see a picture of one like the one that's coming on its Wikipedia page.

And pleased to see the list of notable players contain names I've heard of/like too.

birdo

Looks great . These are suppose to have a real mojo about them. Think they did some with a plastic fret board as well.

Strangefan

Not sure whether  i should respond to this as you seems to be having a decent enough convo with yourself   
They are good guitars for the delta/blues etc as they can be quite boxy in tone, but if that's the tone you're after you cant go wrong with a Stella, 
They may be cheap but were hand made in the US, so and not made anymore so they will probably start to rise in price in the future.

Sassafras

Not a Stella but I've got a very old Harmony slightly larger than parlour sized guitar, it's all solid wood and very nice. Not sure I'd compare it to the best Martin can produce but it sounds lovely.

LesbianWithAGun

I wouldn't mind seeing/playing a Stella from the pre Harmony/Oscar Schmidt Company days when they came out of Jersey City (opposed to Chicago) just to see what one of those would be like. 
 

LesbianWithAGun

Sassafras said:

Not a Stella but I've got a very old Harmony slightly larger than parlour sized guitar, it's all solid wood and very nice. Not sure I'd compare it to the best Martin can produce but it sounds lovely.

When talking Martin Vs. Harmony with Vintage & Rare of Bath over the phone, they said (about their parlor guitars at least) - said,
"The Martin sounded like a middle class white boy playing the blues."
"And the Stella by Harmony might be a cheap guitar, but, it's got that tone..."
Then he named a bunch of famous blues musicians who used them.

LesbianWithAGun

Strangefan said:

Not sure whether  i should respond to this as you seems to be having a decent enough convo with yourself   
They are good guitars for the delta/blues etc as they can be quite boxy in tone, but if that's the tone you're after you cant go wrong with a Stella, 
They may be cheap but were hand made in the US, so and not made anymore so they will probably start to rise in price in the future.

I can assure you, the closest I have in me to the Delta is the Sound of Bow Bells  starting at Balham, Guv'.
That's thanks to my proximity in Thornton Heath, my heritage/my father, bless him.
He's a well to do man who can talk professional and is a writing/entertainer; but he came from 1939 pre war Hoxton and the family moved from there to Battersea in that whole war and my Dad's a Battersea lad who loves his music from Mario Lanza, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra etc... My father's musical influences.
As a teenager, with me and my guitar playing, my father, I asked him to manage my career, he had me learning Ghost Riders in the Sky and suggested I learn C&W and showed me different covers, cover after cover. I went to hospital for a month, I called it Rehab, they called it Bipolar, that was 2005, they gave me my Kay under lock and key for an hour a day, and had me on one on one lest I off myself (I guess, IDK), was only 18.. And my father made me a mix tape of songs to play which included Mario Lanza singing the blues...
Cool man my Dad, am lucky.


I'm going to be playing Welcome to the Ghetto (probably/maybe/most likely), If There Was a God, Flicking the Bean and anything else my crazy self/A comes up with, maybe the Thornton Heath Blues ? j/k.  

Lewy

LesbianWithAGun said:

"The Martin sounded like a middle class white boy playing the blues."
"And the Stella by Harmony might be a cheap guitar, but, it's got that tone..."
Then he named a bunch of famous blues musicians who used them.

Didn’t know what he was talking about then because all the notable country blues players who played Stellas played Oscar Schmidt ones not Harmonies. The most celebrated Stella players such as Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton and Blind Blake were either dead or had finished their pre-war recording careers before Harmony bought the company.

LesbianWithAGun

It left FedEx in Memphis, TN an hour ago...
This was taken a couple of minutes ago...
Flying over KY/OH...

	Location
1/19/2018 - Friday
5:00 am	Departed FedEx location		MEMPHIS, TN
4:54 am	In transit		MEMPHIS, TN
1/18/2018 - Thursday
4:30 pm	In transit		MEMPHIS, TN
10:00 am	Arrived at FedEx location		MEMPHIS, TN
8:40 am	Departed FedEx location		NEWARK, NJ
2:28 am	Departed FedEx location		NEWARK, NJ
12:42 am	Arrived at FedEx location		NEWARK, NJ
12:02 am	Left FedEx origin facility		NEW YORK, NY
1/17/2018 - Wednesday
4:43 pm	Picked up		NEW YORK, NY
1:34 pm	Shipment information sent to FedEx

LesbianWithAGun

You're right @Lewy - Robert Johnson had a Stella, but died before Harmony bought Stella, no?
...
Kurt Cobain used a broken 12 string Stella Harmony with 5 strings and recorded Polly which is on Nevermind, Elvis Presley, so far, is the only guy I see who's got one like the one that's coming, I believe. IDK... He seemed alright I guess..
Think he owned one or used one in a film or something, but it's a Stella by Harmony parlor without a steel reinforced neck. Same colour too and not the rarer colour I wanted.

LesbianWithAGun

Might try and sell it to Cliff Richard j/k... but it should be a nice guitar...
I can't wait, tbh.

How do I find the right people to find Cliff Richard's people so I could even make invitation to treat for this parlor... IDK.
There's no connection to Elvis other than he used one, but, IDK, I'm only fooling/funning when thinking about trying to sell it to Cliff Richard (for a fair price), I don't want to rip nobody off, but I do love sourcing nice guitars...

LesbianWithAGun

5 am take off in January local time to 6 pm landing local time...
Wow..
In January, I'm thinking, it was dark this morning for it when it took off and it's going to be dark again tonight when it lands...
Crazy.
That flight's getting what little if any daylight now? in mid air.

That random thought just occurred.
That random thought still blew me back enough to mention it here though.

KKJale

https://i.imgur.com/XEWSGLE.jpg

(Audrey Hepburn 1961)

LesbianWithAGun

KKJale said:

https://i.imgur.com/XEWSGLE.jpg

(Audrey Hepburn 1961)

Bridge, inlays and lack of scratchplate looks different than mine, another model, maybe? IDK.

Lewy

LesbianWithAGun said:

KKJale said:

https://i.imgur.com/XEWSGLE.jpg

(Audrey Hepburn 1961)

Bridge, inlays and lack of scratchplate looks different than mine, another model, maybe? IDK.

3/4 size H929